Justification:
Very little is known about this species; it is known from a relatively few widespread records. Most records are based on one or few individuals only and usually it is recorded only once or few times from an area. The species has not been recorded recently from the Syrian and Turkey parts of its range, only from south west Iran and north east Iraq. It is therefore inferred that it only exists in less than 10 highly fragmented (but not severely fragmented) subpopulations with an area of occupancy (AOO) of less than 2,000 km², and that the populations are declining due to major threats (in particular from dams and pollution) across its range. It is therefore assessed as Vulnerable, but the situation may even be more critical as the lack of new records from Turkey and Syria may suggest a stronger decline. Fisheries data from Iran strongly indicate a continuous decline of the species over the last 10 years of more than 30% but less than 50% and suggest a future decline at the same level.

The species is known from the Euphrates and Tigris drainage. It is known from only a few widely separated locations. In the Tigris drainage it is reported from Batman river and Tigris at Hasankefe in Turkey, Little Zab river in Iraq and Karkheh, Dez and Karoun rivers in Iran. In the Euphrates drainage it is recorded from Euphrates at Haditha and from Nahr al Khābūr, a tributary of Euphrates in Syria and Turkey, where it was known from Ceylanpinar.

The species usually is very rare, which may be a natural situation. Most records are based on one or few individuals only and usually recorded only once or few times from an area. The species has not been recorded recently from the Syrian and Turkey parts of its range, only from south west Iran and north east Iraq. Most likely the population has much declined due to dam construction, water abstraction and pollution. It is reported to be fast declining in Iran. For the global range, it is inferred that the species is declining due to many threats in the area.

This species might be an excellent indicator for little impacted rivers and the full protection of all its rivers should be considered. More field works is urgently required to better understand the species ecology, distribution and threats.